Weight gain on vacation made right knee an issue

On Monday, when I went back to work, my right knee hurt me terribly, when I simply walked. Usually, my knees only bother me when I go up and down stairs. Now my right knee hurts whenever I walk, period. I weighed myself, and noticed I had gained five or six pounds on our vacation last week. Since I believe pain is a great motivator, this deepened my commitment to abstinence as the most important part of my life. I truly need to moderate in all my eating, even on holidays and birthdays and anniversaries. When I eat out in a restaurant, I need to leave food on the plate. They tend to serve you too much food, anyway. I have gotten dangerously close to 300 pounds. I cannot "diet" anymore, so I just need to eat the moderate portions allowed on my OA food plan. I believe that if I do that, and cut out the compulsive eating behavior, then I will begin losing weight again. I am glad of your support, and of the support from my sponsor and other OA members. Even one of my clients supports me doing this. Denise Phares

I too have begun to have a lot of pain from Osteo Arth - found out I have severe arthritis in my hip and yesterday I had a cat scan and it showed up my my back -along with 2 bulging discs - am seeing a pain specialist - but I know the best way to "fix" this problem -is to lose weight - pain is a great motivator - but it also is a hinderance to losing weight - as it makes exercise painful and not something I really look forward to anyway -but to add that I will be hurting the rest of the day and into the next makes it even less desirable - I do know that if I would even lose 10-20lbs it would make a huge difference in my pain level... all this and I am only 42... what will it be like when I am 62 - if I make it...Eliz

Denise, Don't beat yourself up over enjoying your vacation. I fell off the wagon over Memorial Day weekend intentionally. I had all of the stuff I normally don't eat. I also got severe reflux because of it (yuck)! In order to sustain lifelong changes, you have to make them one at a time. If I am correct, you're trying to do this without surgery. I applaud you for trying to do so. It can be discouraging for us non-ops when we see WLS patients losing 100+ pounds in 6 months. It took me over 2 years to get there but here I am. I know when I fall off the wagon, I'll just jump right back on. And, I'm at the point that I can do that without the intense fear of gaining it all back. One thing that helped me was not eating out. Not only did I save money, but I also lost my desire for that food. I was exercising & losing & thought to myself "I work too hard to blow it on that." This was just one of the many things I would tell myself. I used to be a chocoholic. I'm at the point now that I can honestly say I'd rather have a cup of grapes or an orange instead of a candy bar. Not only for nutritional value but for taste & "sweet" satisfaction. Take one day at a time. This isn't a race. The longer it takes you to lose it, the easier it will stay off, IMO. You'll have learned healthier strategies that will keep you on course. I'm sorry if I'm rambling but I'm tired & I need to go to bed, lol. Juli

I am not ever giving up eating out. Since I do 99% of the cooking at home, sometimes I like to let someone else do it for a change, and enjoy being waited on. Denise Phares

I'm sorry. I meant no offense. Good luck in your weight loss journey. Juli

Denise... Juli is absolutely correct. Take it one step at a time. In order to succeed in any weight-loss program, you need to honest-to-god whole-heartedly deep down commit yourself to a lifestyle change -- a healthy lifestyle. That is all. Do not "commit" to a diet, do not "commit" to a certain regimen of food, do not "commit" to abstainance from anything. THE most important thing I've learned throughout my journey is that, if you abstain from everything you're body used to crave, you're body will feel deprived of it, and you are more likely to fall off the bandwagon and go into reverse. Take it slowly. Make baby steps. Start off by substituting more healthier food choices than what you're making now. (i.e., Don't completely cut out having bread altogether... but instead of having a couple slices of white toast with your breakfast, have Multi-Grain bread with a butter substitute which contains non-hydrogenated oils. -- it tastes just as good, if not better, than having toast with butter. And not nearly as bad for you!). It's not all about caloric intake. Well, it is and it isn't. BUT... it's MORESO all about WHAT you put in your body. It's important to eat foods that stimulate the metabolism, and ones that promote good digestive tract function. Those two factors alone make or break whether or not the food you eat is taken in and stored as fat, or burned up as energy and eliminated. Here's a suggestion for you... why don't you take down a typical food log for one day and e-mail it to me, I will send it back to you with suggestions for substituting the items you've selected. It's as easy as that, really. It's all about FOOD CHOICES. Not about keeping certain food groups out of your body, or never touching certain types of food... but you know what, as you begin to substitute healthier food choices, you will soon find that within time, you won't even DESIRE any of the other "bad" things, and you'll just automaticaly ween yourself off of them without making a conscious desision of it. You'll find that you won't crave that candy bar anymore, without even thinking... and in enough time, you will actually feel SICK when you think about getting that candy bar anywhere NEAR you're system. But it's one step at a time. You can't take on too many large drastic changes all at once, because it won't work. It just plain flat out won't. I encourage you to heed my advice, please e-mail me with that info... you can do it, I know you can. If I can do it, YOU can do it!! My e-mail is [email protected] Good Luck!! --CarolJean 250/159/140